Category Archives: United Kingdom

120,000 sign up to stop traitor jihadist Anjem Choudary march

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Daily Mail U.K.

120,000 sign up to Facebook protest to stop Islamic extremist march through Wootton Bassett

By Ian Drury and Andy Dolan
Last updated at 12:50 AM on 04th January 2010

More than 120,000 people had last night signed an internet petition protesting about plans by Islamic extremists to march through Wootton Bassett.

Hate preacher Anjem Choudary sparked outrage by saying his radical group Islam4UK would parade through the town renowned for honouring soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

The firebrand cleric said 500 of his supporters would carry ‘symbolic coffins’ in memory of the Muslim civilians ‘ murdered by merciless’ coalition forces.

Anjem Choudary

Hate preacher: Anjem Choudary, centre, and his followers plan to protest through the town of Wootton Bassett, Wilts.

In remarks designed to cause maximum offence, he compared fallen British heroes to Nazi stormtroopers and the September 11 and July 7 terrorists. He even claimed his plan was backed by families of servicemen and women.

But MPs, military chiefs, moderate Muslims and councillors expressed horror that 42-year-old Choudary was ‘hijacking’ the town for political purposes. In less than 48 hours, more than 120,000 people joined a Facebook campaign opposing the march by Islam4UK, which calls itself a ‘platform’ for the banned extremist group al-Muhajiroun.

Petition organiser Jo Cleary, who works with service families, urged supporters to express their ‘alarm and distress’ to Wiltshire Police in a bid to stop the plan.

She said: ‘This group can march anywhere it wishes in the country but has chosen Wootton Bassett to cause outrage and offence. We need our politicians to make a statement saying that this march will never take place.’ Continue Reading →

Islam on Campus

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From the Center for Social Cohesion

Islam on Campus – published in July 2008 – is the most comprehensive survey ever undertaken of Muslim student opinion in the UK. It is based on a specially commissioned YouGov poll of 1400 students, as well as on fieldwork and interviews.

The report examines students’ attitudes on key issues including religious tolerance, gender equality and integration. While most Muslim students support secularism and democratic values, and are generally tolerant towards other minorities and reject violence in the name of their faith, Islam on Campus uncovered significant findings:

– 40% of Muslim students polled support the introduction of Sharia into British law for Muslims.

– Almost a third (32%) of Muslim students polled said killing in the name of religion was ever justified. By contrast, just 2% of non-Muslims polled felt the same way

– 40% of Muslim students polled felt it unacceptable for Muslim men and women to associate freely.

– 33% of Muslim students polled declared themselves supportive of a worldwide Islamic Caliphate based on Sharia law.

– 54% of Muslim students polled were supportive of an Islamic political party to represent the views of Muslims at Parliament.

– Slightly less than a quarter (24%) of Muslim student respondents do not think that men and women are equal in the eyes of Allah.

– 6% of Muslim students polled said that converts from Islam should be punished “in accordance with Sharia law.”

– 25% of Muslim students (and 32% of male Muslim students) polled said they had not very much or no respect at all for homosexuals.

– 66% of Muslim students polled said they had lost respect for the… read more.

‘Spiritual’ leader of 9/11 terrorists continues to preach hate at British campuses, mosques

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The Telegraph U.K.

Detroit bomber’s mentor continues to influence British mosques and universities

Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical cleric accused of inspiring the Detroit plane bomber, has been permitted to speak at a series of British mosques and universities, a Sunday Telegraph investigation has discovered.

By Patrick Sawer and David Barrett
Published: 9:00PM GMT 02 Jan 2010
Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical cleric accused of inspiring the Detroit plane bomber, has been permitted to speak at a series of British mosques and universities, a Sunday Telegraph investigation has discovered.

Anwar al-Awlaki Photo: Mohammad Ud-Deen

Al-Awlaki has been accused by US counter terrorism officials and the Yemeni government of being one of the driving forces behind Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s conversion to an extreme form of Islam.

Today we can reveal al-Awlaki has spoken on at least seven occasions at five different venues around Britain via video-link in the last three years alone, despite being banned from entering this country in 2006.

On at least two occasions the American-born cleric addressed audiences at a Muslim centre which was receiving taxpayers money under Government’s programme to prevent violent extremism.

Al-Awlaki is one of a series of radical preachers who have spoken at venues benefiting from money intended to counter Islamist radicalisation. Continue Reading →

British Muslim terror group threaten sniper soldiers family with death

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Al-Qaeda plot to murder family of sniper soldier

Mirror News U.K.

EXCLUSIVE by Rupert Hamer, Defence Correspondent

3/01/2010

Sniper (Pic:MOD/SM)

British-based al-Qaeda fanatics threatened to kill a soldier’s ­family after learning his ­sniper team had killed 32 ­Taliban.

Armed police were sent to his home after anti-terrorism officers uncovered the plot to murder his parents.

The plans came to light when the security services monitored ­“chatter” – ­believed to be on ­mobile phones or the internet – between al-Qaeda ­extremists.

It is the second time a ­soldier or his loved ones are known to have been targeted in the UK by groups linked to al-Qaeda. Continue Reading →

Britain: the biggest hub of Islamic radicalization outside the Muslim world.

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From The Daily Mail U.K.

To our eternal shame, Britain is STILL a hub for Islamic terror

By Melanie Phillips
Last updated at 11:30 AM on 28th December 2009

So here we go again. Another international Islamic terrorist plot – and yet another British connection.

The attempt by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to blow up an American plane was averted only by luck and courage.

The incident obviously raises alarming questions about gross lapses in security. In particular, how did Abdulmutallab obtain a U.S. visa when he had been on an American watch-list of people with known terrorist connections?

But the deeper and more urgent issue for Britain concerns the key role this country has once again played in a Muslim’s trajectory to radicalisation and terror. Abdulmutallab, who claims to have been working for Al Qaeda, was an engineering student at prestigious University College London for three years until 2008.

He was actually refused an entry visa to Britain earlier this year, but only because the institution at which he said he wanted to study turned out to be non-existent.

How, people might well ask, could such a radical have been educated in Britain without the authorities jumping on him?

Did MI5 know anything about him – especially since he was on a U.S. terrorism watch-list for two years?

As yet, we still don’t know much about this man’s history.

It appears he became a religiously extreme Muslim at a school in Togo, but was further radicalised while studying in London before apparently going to Yemen and linking to Al Qaeda.

Who can be surprised? After all, this is ‘ Londonistan’ – the contemptuous term coined by the French security service back in the Nineties as they watched Britain become the central hub of Islamic terrorism in Europe. Continue Reading →

Illegal entry to Britain in bogus college scheme aids Islamic terrorism

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From The Telegraph U.K.

Terror plot raises questions over student visas

The latest airline bomb plot by a terrorist with British connections raises serious questions about the UK’s controversial student visa system.

By Martin Evans
Published: 3:22PM GMT 27 Dec 2009

Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, who comes from a wealthy family in Nigeria, was already showing signs of extremist views when he was granted a visa to study mechanical engineering at University College London in 2005.

After completing his studies in 2008 he traveled to the Middle East before applying to return to the UK in May for another six month course.

However, his request was refused by officials from the UK Borders Agency as he was attempting to enroll on a course being offered by an institution on the Government’s list of bogus colleges.

Despite the fact his entry was barred, questions still remain over the system which has seen more than one and a half million visas granted to overseas students during the last eight years.

Earlier this year a report by the Home Affairs Select Committee criticised the Government for failing to deal adequately with the explosion in bogus colleges springing up across the UK. Continue Reading →

Britain battles forced conversions to Islam

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The London Evening Standard

Police protect girls forced to convert to Islam

Last updated at 17:22pm on 22.02.07

Extremist Muslims who force vulnerable teenage girls to convert to Islam are being targeted by police, Met chief Sir Ian Blair has revealed.

Police are working with universities to clamp down on “aggressive conversions” during which girls are beaten up and forced to abandon university courses.

The Hindu Forum of Britain claims hundreds of mostly Sikh and Hindu girls have been intimidated by Muslim men who take them out on dates before terrorising them until they convert.

Sir Ian spoke about the problem at a conference organised by the forum.

A Met spokesman said: “Neighbourhood officers work with university authorities in London and we would encourage anyone targeted in this way to seek help and support and where necessary use third party reporting facilities if they do not want to contact police directly.”

Ramesh Kallidai, of the Hindu Forum of Britain, said: “Some girls are petrified because they are constantly being phoned up, having their door knocked.

“One girl was beaten up on the street and others have been forced to leave university.”

• Met police chiefs are to review a controversial stop-and-search power used in the fight against terrorism. Assistant commissioner Andy Hayman, the overall head of Britain’s anti-terrorist operations, said he had concerns about the number of stops carried out in London using Section 44 legislation.

Muslim group’s response to Christmas Day terrorist Abdulmutallab

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CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations prides itself on representing the voice of moderate Islam in the United States. The highly influential group relays a position of zero tolerance for Islamic extremism. Below is a portion of CAIR’s generic, passionless denunciation of terrorism:

‘The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has consistently and persistently condemned terrorism and the killing of innocent civilians.  CAIR has also organized fatwas, petition drives, placed advertisements in national and local newspapers, ran public service announcements on television and radio stations, helped local Mosques across the United States in holding open houses, published Op-Eds in local and national newspapers, conducted inter-faith meetings and worked with scholars to disseminate the peaceful teachings of Islam’.

So, where is their denunciation of Christmas Day terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab?

There isn’t one. Perhaps in the spirit of understanding and tolerance, we could excuse the glaring omission simply because they are bogged down with other, more weighty Muslim outrages to focus on rather than such a petty incident in comparison. Take for example, that CAIR-Chicago has asked CitiBank to apologize to a Muslim woman who was ‘humiliated’ after a bank employee allegedly verbally abused her because she was wearing a hijab. Or, that a group of Muslims in San Diego were ‘upset’ and ‘insulted’ after attending an international Church Christmas party which featured a magic show and a visiting pastor, an Egyptian convert from Islam to Christianity who railed against sharia.

Or maybe their time is better spent blaming Hollywood for stereotyping Muslims and Arabs in a bad light. Of course negative opinion associated to radical Islam could never be blamed on factual daily acts of violence and murder around the globe. It is not the vile ideologies of al-Qaeda or the Taliban, or other extremist groups that are responsible, but the sinister agenda of Tinseltown. True Lies, Executive Decision, the cartoon Aladdin and other ‘negative portrayals of Muslims and Arabs in cinema’ are to blame for the coloured public perception setting off more Muslim selective outrage.

It is now understood and has been confirmed by authorities, that Abdulmutallab has a London connection. Predictably, no official statement of denunciation has been issued by Islam4uk, the radical group in England headed by Anjem Choudary. Yet, Britain gives this hate-filled ‘cleric’ full attention and street space to speak out vehemently and repeatedly against western values. There is not a peep from Choudary or from those who support his ‘moderate’ spiritual campaign, as they too have busied themselves with other, more demanding Islamic projects such as denouncing the three harmful ‘idols’ confronting Muslims in the western world: democracy, secularism and freedom.

For CAIR to obsess on obscure ‘anti-Muslim’ instances, citing hurt feelings and insults as societal atrocities in place of denouncing acts of  terrorism and daily violence against innocents in the name of Islam is nothing short of absolute indifference to real suffering; it also reveals an unparalleled arrogance and self-centeredness within CAIR’s selective agenda. I for one, have come to understand fully that  it is not just what some North American Muslim organizations do say which reveals the truth, but what they fail to say.

Merry Christmas: Illegal female genital mutilation parties abound in Britain.

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Move over tree trimming parties: female genital mutilation ‘cutters flown in’ to cater to ignorance over Christmas holidays.

From The Independent U.K., courtesy TROP

UK fails to halt female genital mutilation

Girls are still at risk this Christmas as ‘cutters’ are flown in from abroad to perform the illegal procedure here

By Nina Lakhani

Sunday, 20 December 2009

Hundreds of British schoolgirls are facing the terrifying prospect of female genital mutilation (FGM) over the Christmas holidays as experts warn the practice continues to flourish across the country. Parents typically take their daughters back to their country of origin for FGM during school holidays, but The Independent on Sunday has been told that “cutters” are being flown to the UK to carry out the mutilation at “parties” involving up to 20 girls to save money.

The police face growing criticism for failing to prosecute a single person for carrying out FGM in 25 years; new legislation from 2003 which prohibits taking a girl overseas for FGM has also failed to secure a conviction.

Women in Somalia being educated about the dangers of genital mutilation. Campaigners in the UK are angry that there have been no prosecutions of practitioners

LIBA TAYLOR

Women in Somalia being educated about the dangers of genital mutilation. Campaigners in the UK are angry that there have been no prosecutions of practitioners.

Experts say the lack of convictions, combined with the Government’s failure to invest enough money in education and prevention strategies, mean the practice continues to thrive. Knowledge of the health risks and of the legislation remains patchy among practising communities, while beliefs about the supposed benefits for girls remain firm, according to research by the Foundation for Women’s Health, Research and Development (Forward).

As a result, specialist doctors and midwives are struggling to cope with increasing numbers of women suffering from long-term health problems, including complications during pregnancy and childbirth.

Campaigners are urging ministers to take co-ordinated steps to work with communities here and overseas to change deep-seated cultural attitudes and stamp out this extreme form of violence against women.

The author and life peer Ruth Rendell, who has campaigned against FGM for 10 years, said: “When I helped take the Bill through Parliament seven years ago, I was very hopeful that we’d get convictions and that would then act as a deterrent for other people. But that has never happened and my heart bleeds for these girls. This mutilation is forever; nothing can be done to restore the clitoris, and that is just very sad for them. I have repeatedly asked questions of ministers from all departments about why there has never been a prosecution and why we still do not have a register of cases. But while they are always very sympathetic, nothing ever seems to get done. Teachers must not be squeamish and must talk to their girls so we can try and prevent it from happening.”

FGM is classified into four types, of varying severity; type 3 is the most mutilating and involves total removal of the clitoris, labia and a narrowing of the whole vagina.

An estimated 70,000 women living in the UK have undergone FGM, and 20,000 girls remain at risk, according to Forward. The practice is common in 28 African countries, including Somalia, Sudan and Nigeria, as well as some Middle Eastern and Asian countries such as Malaysia and Yemen. It is generally considered to be an essential rite of passage to suppress sexual pleasure, preserve girls’ purity and cleanliness, and is necessary for marriage in many communities even now. It has no religious significance.

The most common age for the procedure is between eight and 11 but it can be carried out just after birth or just before marriage. It carries the risk of death from bleeding or tetanus, and long-term problems include urinary incontinence, recurrent infections and chronic pain. Reversal procedures are necessary in order to avoid major problems for a woman and baby during childbirth.

In the UK, some women have to travel hundreds of miles to one of 15 specialist clinics because services and training are so patchy. There are no specialist clinics at all in Scotland, or Wales, and student doctors, midwives and social workers are not routinely taught to recognise or deal with FGM.

A DVD, paid for by Baroness Rendell, which shows health workers how to reverse FGM will be launched in January. She hopes the next generation of health professionals will be better equipped to help affected women, many of whom suffer from long-term psychological effects such as flashbacks, anxiety and nightmares.

Amina, 55, originally from Somalia, underwent type 3 FGM, with no anaesthetic, when she was 11. One of the lucky ones, she suffered no long-term physical health problems but still carries psychological scars.

She has been vilified by practising communities for campaigning against FGM and for refusing to allow four of her daughters to be mutilated; the fifth suffered the procedure while in the care of her grandmother. The government funding that allowed Amina to work with families in Yorkshire, going door to door, to schools and community centres, talking about legal and health risks, ran out in March.

The Somali model Waris Dirie was mutilated at the age of five. She set up the Waris Dirie Foundation in 2002 to help eradicate FGM. She said: “I am worried about the situation in Europe and the US, as FGM seems to be on the rise in these places. In the 21st century, a crime this cruel should not be accepted in a society as developed as England. No one can undo the trauma that is caused by this horrible crime; it stays in your head for ever. So what we should focus on is that there won’t be another victim.”

Jackie Mathers, a nurse from the Bristol Safeguarding Children Board, said: “These families do not do this out of spite or hatred; they believe this will give their daughters the best opportunities in life. We would like a conviction, not against the parents, but against a cutter, someone who makes a living from this. We have anecdotal information that the credit crunch means people can’t go home, so they’re getting cutters over for ‘FGM parties’. It is hard for people to speak out because they are from communities that are already vilified as asylum seekers, so to stand up against their communities is to risk being ostracised. But we have to empower girls and women to address this, along with teachers, school nurses and social workers. We can’t ignore it; it is mutilation.”

A Home Office spokesman said: “We have appointed an FGM co-ordinator to drive forward a co-ordinated government response to this appalling crime and make recommendations for future work.”

Honour killings soar as Islamic fundamentalism spreads it’s wings

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From The Telegraph U.K.

Tulay Goren murder: ‘honour’ crimes doubling every year, figures show

“Honour killings” are now running at the rate of one a month, it has emerged, following a shocking rise in violent crimes committed in Britain in the name of religion.

By Gordon Rayner and John Bingham
Published: 6:30AM GMT 18 Dec 2009

The number of murders, rapes and assaults on people who dare to break strict religious or cultural rules is doubling every year, police figures show, with up to two violent “honour crimes” being committed every day.

But charities which help victims of honour crimes say the true extent of the problem is far worse than the statistics show, as every year hundreds of vicitms – normally women – are too frightened to report attacks or to give evidence in court.

The escalating problem was highlighted yesterday as an Old Bailey jury convicted Mehmet Goren, 49, of the cold-blooded and premeditated murder of his 15-year-old daughter Tulay after she fell in love with someone from the “wrong” branch of Islam.

Miss Goren disappeared 10 years ago after telling a friend she might be pregnant but justice caught up with her father after his wife “courageously” testified against him and lifted what was described as the “cloak of secrecy” which surrounds honour crimes.

A prosecutor said the case was a “wake-up call” to the authorities over the extent of the problem in this country, which campaigners say is growing because of the rise of religious fundamentalism. Continue Reading →

Islam keeps house in a sympathetic Britain

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Latent Islamophobia in Europe may not be the only reason Muslims are flocking to Britain. Muslim convert Francesca Walker lives in a 2.6 million mansion and is neighbour to Elle Macpherson, David Cameron and Hugh Grant, courtesy of the British taxpayer. There’s no place like home.

” There are a lot of people who defraud the system and abuse it – it’s not difficult to take advantage of it.’ Francesca Walker.

Britain’s tolerance to Islam results in more than 1m Muslims setting up home here.

From The Telegraph U.K.

—–

Last updated at 11:36 PM on 13th December 2009

More than a million Muslims have migrated to Britain because it is more sympathetic towards Islam than other European countries, a study has found.

Latent Islamophobia in Europe means that many of those who move to the continent eventually end up in Britain, because it is seen as more tolerant.

There are now some 1.1million Muslim immigrants in the UK, according to the report by IPPR, the Blairite think tank. It means around 46 per cent of Britain’s 2.4million-strong Muslim population were not born in this country.

Canterbury Tales: British Armed Forces Bishop urges sympathy for the Devil

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Just as Rowen Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury arches his back in subservience to radical Islam, Rt. Reverend Stephen Venner, Bishop of the British Armed Forces clearly knows nothing of the Taliban.

From The Telegraph U.K.

Taliban can be admired for their faith and loyalty, says bishop

The Taliban can be admired for their conviction to their faith and their sense of loyalty to one another, the new Bishop for the Armed Forces has claimed.

By Jonathan Wynne-Jones and Duncan Gardham
Published: 5:52PM GMT 13 Dec 2009
Taliban militants - Taliban can be admired for their faith and loyalty, says bishop

Taliban militants in Afghanistan Photo: AP

The Rt Rev Stephen Venner called for a more sympathetic approach to the Islamic fundamentalists that recognises their humanity.

The Church of England’s Bishop to the Forces warned that it will be harder to reach a peaceful solution to the war if the Afghan insurgents are portrayed too negatively.

His comments came as the Prime Minister visited Afghanistan and warned that the Taliban was fighting a “guerilla war” aimed at causing “maximum damage”. Gordon Brown said soldiers were discovering improvised explosive devices every two hours.

Mr Brown stayed overnight in the Allied base in the southern city of Kandahar, the first British Prime Minister to spend the night in a war zone since Winston Churchill. His visit came days after the death of Lance Corporal Adam Drane, the 100th member of the British forces to die in Afghanistan this year. His death brought the total number of British service personnel who have died since the start of operations in 2001 to 237.

Bishop Venner stressed his admiration for the sacrifices made by the British forces fighting in Afghanistan but also urged the need for a reassessment of how the Taliban are viewed.

“We’ve been too simplistic in our attitude towards the Taliban,” said Bishop Venner, who was recently commissioned in his new role by Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

“There’s a large number of things that the Taliban say and stand for which none of us in the west could approve, but simply to say therefore that everything they do is bad is not helping the situation because it’s not honest really.

“The Taliban can perhaps be admired for their conviction to their faith and their sense of loyalty to each other.”

Besides their attacks on the armed forces, the Taliban have also been responsible for public beatings, amputations and executions and have launched bomb attacks on the civilian population in Afghanistan.

They often refer to foreign forces as “Crusaders” in an echo of the religious wars of the Middle Ages.

The bishop said that some of their methods of combat are not honourable or acceptable, but argued that it was unhelpful to demonise them.

“We must remember that there are a lot of people who are under their influence for a whole range of reasons, and we simply can’t lump all of those together.

“To blanket them all as evil and paint them as black is not helpful in a very complex situation.”

Bishop Venner said that everyone in Afghanistan, including the Taliban, would have to be included in discussions to find a solution to the conflict.

“Afghanistan is going we hope in the end to find a way to live together with justice and prosperity for all. In order to do that we have to involve all the people of Afghanistan to find it.

“It is that lasting and just peace that will in the end justify the sacrifices our servicemen and women have made.”

In the meantime, he said, the Government has “a moral duty” to ensure that the army is properly equipped.

Colonel Richard Kemp, a former commander in Afghanistan who has written about the insurgency, said the bishop was being naïve.

“We clearly need to understand our enemy but that is more of a military issue rather than a religious one,” he said.

“There are elements in the Taliban who do not act from a religious perspective and it is important to understand and turn them around.

“But there are many others who will not be persuaded. Their central creed and ethos is about violent oppression which comes from a politics of extreme religion that has very little to commend it in terms that we would recognise or appreciate.

“In many ways it is a mistake to compare their faith of extreme holy war with the kind of religion of peace and understanding that the bishop follows. They certainly wouldn’t show understanding of his faith.”

Earlier this year, Peter Davies, the mayor of Doncaster, claimed that British society could learn from Taliban family values. He said that under the Taliban, Afghanistan had an “ordered system of family life”.

Last month David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, offered parts of the Taliban “an alternative to fighting” and said men now fighting against British forces should be encouraged to sit in the Afghan parliament.

His comments came a day after a new military strategy was unveiled that talked of the need to negotiate with the Taliban, offering them money or immunity from prosecution in order to secure peace.


Tolerance gives go-ahead for Muslim extremism

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From The Telegraph U.K.

When tolerance is taken too far

Telegraph View: Haringey Council seems determined to evade its responsibility to ensure that Muslims are integrated into British society

Telegraph View
Published: 7:40PM GMT 12 Dec 2009
——
” Attempts to integrate Muslim children into secular society are an effort to produce new generations that reject Islam. Democracy is a corrupt tradition and western education is a threat to Muslims’ beliefs and values”. Muslim school trustee Farah Ahmed.

One of the most pressing challenges for Britain – not just for the Government, but for the whole of our society – is to find a way to integrate fundamentalist Muslims: to ensure that they embrace the basic values of tolerance, equality of the sexes, and the primacy of secular democracy as a way of making law. Haringey Council currently provides an object lesson in how not to meet that critical challenge. As this newspaper reported more than six weeks ago, a Muslim school there, run by individuals with links to the extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, received £113,000 of taxpayers’ money last year. After our report, state funding was suspended. Now it has been resumed: an investigation by Haringey Council found “no evidence to suggest inappropriate content or influence at the school”.

One of the school’s three trustees is Farah Ahmed. She has refused to deny membership of Hizb ut-Tahrir, and has also written a pamphlet attacking the National Curriculum for “pushing the idea of religious tolerance”. In it, she insists that “attempts to integrate Muslim children” into secular society are an effort to “produce new generations that reject Islam”. She attacks English literature as “one of the most damaging subjects”, and says democracy is a “corrupt tradition” and Western education is “a threat” to Muslims’ “beliefs and values”.

If those attitudes do not count as “inappropriate content or influence” when it comes to state funding, it is hard to see what does. Yet Haringey seems determined to evade its responsibility to ensure that Muslims are integrated into British society. As does the Government: Ed Balls, the Children’s Minister, has backed the council. There could be no more effective way of ensuring that religious minorities remain dangerously excluded from mainstream society.

British hoteliers received violent threats over Muslim ‘insult’, lives in shambles

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From The Telegraph U.K.

Christian hoteliers received violent threats over Muslim guest ‘insult’

Christian hoteliers Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang received hate mail after they were accused of insulting a Muslim guest because of her faith.

By Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent
Published: 2:34PM GMT 12 Dec 2009
Christian hoteliers Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang have received hate mail after they were accused of insulting a Muslim guest because of her faith.

The Vogelenzangs have five adopted children, including one who is a Muslim Photo: MERCURY

The couple said they have been “living a nightmare” since they were charged in July with a “religiously-aggravated” offence of causing harassment, alarm or distress.

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, the couple have told of their relief at being cleared of insulting Ericka Tazi, a Muslim woman who was staying at their hotel.

They said that they had suffered emotionally and financially since the prosecution began, received threats warning they would be attacked and nearly lost their business due to an 80 per cent decline in takings at their nine-bedroom hotel, the Bounty House in Aintree, Liverpool.

“The last nine months have been a nightmare for us,” said Mr Vogelenzang.

“We’ve been drained emotionally and financially. We have, sadly, received some threats and hate mail. That has been upsetting.

“Our business has almost been destroyed.”

Mrs Tazi, who converted to Islam 18 months ago, stayed at the couple’s hotel in March. She claimed they asked her if she was a murderer and a terrorist after seeing her wearing a hijab. She also alleged that Mr Vogelenzang called the Prophet Muhammad a murderer and a warlord and likened him to Saddam Hussein and Hitler.

The hotel had been reliant for much of its business on a local hospital, which routinely referred outpatients to stay, but hospital chiefs put a stop to this once they heard about the court case.

The couple said that they had been encouraged by the support of Christians from around the world, some of whom sent them financial donations.

The Vogelenzangs have five adopted children, including one who is a Muslim. They have put their names forward to foster other Muslim youngsters, and stressed that they were not Islamaphobic.

However, they said that they are concerned that their ordeal suggests that people are losing their freedom of expression, and they criticised the police for prosecuting them.

“We are unhappy that the police pursued this case with such enthusiasm, and we feel the law needs to be clearer about free speech,” said Mr Vogelenzang.

“We are delighted that our legal system eventually came to the right decision, but we regret that it came to court at all.

“We are glad that we live in a country which has free speech. Many people have given up their lives in the last century to protect those freedoms. It seems such a shame that we appear to be losing our liberty.”

They said that they forgave Mrs Tazi despite the stress caused by her claims and her alleged insults against Christianity.

“We have no ill feelings for Mrs Tazi and we are looking forward to getting on with our lives. We wish her all the best,” said Mr Vogelenzang.

Richard Clancy, the district judge at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court, dismissed the case, which had been brought under the Public Order Act.

The judge explained that the Muslim convert’s claim that she was verbally abused for up to an hour had not been backed up by other witnesses. He also said the language Mrs Tazi used in the exchange “did not quite form the same religious view” that was put to him on the stand.

Children should be monitored for Islamist brain-washing-tots as young as 4 vulnerable to radicalization

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From The Daily Mail U.K.

Nursery school children should be monitored for signs of Islamic extremist brainwashing, say police

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:08 PM on 11th December 2009

Children as young as four should be monitored for signs of brainwashing by Islamic extremists, a leaked police memo states.

In an email to community group leaders, an officer in the West Midlands counter-terrorism unit wrote: ‘I do hope that you will tell me about persons, of whatever age, you think may have been radicalised or be vulnerable to radicalisation.

‘Evidence suggests that radicalisation can take place from the age of four.’

The email was written by a police sergeant trying to allay Muslim community concerns.
It was leaked to The Times.

However, the policy was last night condemned by the Tories and the Liberal Democrats.

Chris Grayling, the Shadow Home Secretary, said the policy runs the risk of ‘alienating even more people’, while Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said it was an ‘absurd waste of money’.
Parviz KhanThere have been concerns about the radicalisation of children since terrorist Parviz Khan was caught on tape indoctrinating his five-year-old son.

There have been concerns about the radicalisation of children in the West Midlands since a terrorist was caught on a surveillance tape indoctrinating his five-year-old son.

Parviz Khan was jailed for plotting to kidnap and behead a British soldier in 2008. He was recorded threatening to beat his own son if he did not swear allegiance to Osama Bin Laden and encouraged him to ‘kill’ America, George W Bush and Tony Blair.

Instead of easing concerns in the Muslim community, the email has instead inflamed tensions.

The sergeant wrote: ‘I am a police officer and therefore it will always be part of my role to gather intelligence and I will report back any information or intelligence which may suggest someone is a terrorist, or is planning to be one or to support others.

‘However, my role is to raise the level of awareness of the threat of terrorism and radicalisation and support and work with partners to try to prevent it.’

The sergeant’s West Midlands police unit last night confirmed that counter-terrorist officers specially trained in identifying children and young people vulnerable to radicalisation had visited nursery schools.

Sir Norman Bettison, who speaks for the Association of Chief Police Officers on the anti-terror strategy Prevent, said the email was a ‘clumsy’ attempt by the officer to explain the strategy.

Chief Constable Sir Norman said: ‘There is absolutely no example, nationally, of the police engaging with nursery-age kids specifically on this issue.

‘That is the age for learning about stranger-danger and the Tufty Club.’

But he added that the policy ‘is no different to addressing the harm of drugs or sexual exploitation’.

‘Prevent is a way of addressing those most vulnerable in an attempt to protect them,’ he said.

‘It is easy to give Prevent initiatives a kicking because it is viewed as intrusive but, the next time there is a terrorist outrage involving young people who have been radicalised, there will be a wringing of hands and people will say, “What more could we have done?”‘

Farisa JihadControversy: Twenty-month-old Farisa Jihad sported inflammatory headwear during a protest outside the Danish embassy in London in 2006.

Arun Kundnani, of the Institute of Race Relations, contacted the officer who sent the email and asked for an explanation as to why counter-terrorism officers had visited nursery schools.

Mr Kundnani said: ‘He did seem to think it was standard. He said it wasn’t just him or his unit that was doing it.

‘He said the indicators were that [children] might draw pictures of bombs and say things like “all Christians are bad” or that they believe in an Islamic state.

‘It seems that nursery teachers in the West Midlands area are being asked to look out for radicalisation.

‘He also said that targeting young children was important because they would be left aware of what was inappropriate to say at school.’

The West Midlands counter-terrorism unit confirmed that an officer had visited a nursery school attached to a primary school and had spoken to staff.

A spokesman said: ‘We have been trying to bring counter-terrorism work out of the shadows. It can cause consternation at first when a policeman introduces himself as a counter-terrorism officer.

‘But we are actually trying to get over the accusation that Prevent is about spying by being more open and we are reaping the benefits now with better engagement.’